Tiny houses and giant pumpkins

 Back to Portsmouth, NH, for the fairy house festival, and this time Erin and Caroline brought friends. Two adults, five girls, and hundreds of fairy houses. 

 These were the non-professional houses made by local schools. Erin & Georgea loved the snakeskin decoration.

 

We thought this one should have won first prize

 

That's a fairy-sized Ping-Pong table



 Here's the blue ribbon winner. It wasn't big, but it had tons of detail on the inside, although no teenage fairy entertainment options.

 

 Caroline & Chloe

 

 The site for the festival, Strawberry Banke, is a restored colonial area reminiscent of Williamsburg

 

 The picture doesn't do it justice, but this was the area to build your own fairy house from leftover ingredients from the professionals, and there were soo many on the huge lawn.

 

That's right, we're hooked on the Pirate's Booty

 

 Dad took Grampa Ed to Fenway to see the Yankees get pummeled by the Sox in Derek Jeter's penultimate game in pinstripes.

 

Even though Fenway is an uncomfortable dump of a ballpark, the weather was spectacular for baseball.

 

You will have to watch a lot of baseball to find a position player with 175 at-bats and a batting average lower than .162.

 

 The following weekend Nana & Grampa Mike & Riley the dog came up to visit. On Friday afternoon we pulled the girls out of school early. Stated reason: Giant Pumpkins

 



 It was the day of the weigh-off and here are the oversized, saggy, and thoroughly gross-looking contestants

 We think that this was the winner: over 1900 pounds - almost a new World Record
 

 We went to the Museum of Science and Erin loved to hold Riley
 

 Wilson Farm was in full fall mode and worth a visit

 

 Show us that million-dollar smile, Belle the Llama

 

 Mmm, cider donuts

 

These oversized cupcakes are endlessly fascinating to the girls, and this year we decided to make one the prize for family competition - more below. 

 Each year they put up this display - wow!

 

 Another beautiful day, and we went to the DeCordova outdoor sculpture gallery

 

 How many girls can you spot?

 

 Gotcha, Erin!

 

 Lounging at the gift shop

 

 Caroline's entry into the napkin-art exhibit

 

Here is the cupcake contest - rather than follow the NFL, we're following English football this winter. Can Mom's team be beat?

 

Tessie is in full speak-and-spell mode now

Although she does have a little baby slamming problem

Proof that we were at Fenway. Jeter struck out in 3 pitches in this at-bat.

 The older girls have loved watching the Avatar cartoon series on Amazon Prime. Above is Momo the flying lemur, which Erin decided to imitate one night



Plymouth rocks

 We decided to explore Plymouth over Labor Day. Compared to Cape Cod, it is half the distance from us, lodging is 1/4 the price, and it has none of the traffic. What's not to like? For us, though, compared to the historical sites, the hotel pool with a water slide was the real attraction.

 

 There it is, Plymouth Rock, sittin' there in the sand in Plymouth Harbor. With the concrete patch job down the center, this truly is one of America's least impressive historic icons.

 

 Now Plimoth Plantation, that keeps us coming back.We had so much fun last year that we went back again

 



 Did you know that the bowsprit of the Mayflower was a giant cow?

 

 Bride in a pedicab, don't see that every day

 

We also went to Edaville, a nearby amusement park with a train theme

 Oh the spinning saucers, they look so innocent, but Dad nearly spilled his lunch on them

 

 We're actually waiting for Dad's stomach to calm down before we moved on

 

 Dino land was more Tessie's speed

 

 Eeek, a brontosaurus!

 

 We don't have the photo, but the bumper cars in the background were totally awesome

 

 By far Tessie's favorite ride was the mini carousel

 

 That's not a ball pit, it's a giant cranberry bog (the park is in Ocean Spray country)

 

We snagged the caboose for our train ride

 

School started Aug. 26th, and Erin became a kindergartner

 

 The bus stop crew

 

 The stop is right at our driveway

 

 Erin was Mom's travel buddy for a quick trip to Atlanta to see Grandma Lu

 

 We don't have pictures of Grandma Lu, but how about that sunset?

 

 One of Mom's colleagues offered to give the girls a private horseback lesson and we jumped at the chance

 

 Erin was brave atop Wilma

 

 Even Mom got a chance to ride

 

 Max loves Erin's lap

 

The garden this year was a success: carrots, tomatillos, tomatoes, peppers, and okra

 

Tessie dancing to cello

 

Tessie loves her boookie

 

 Caroline riding

Erin riding